When I first featured Arlo Parks, the coolest wearer of the headband since 1970's Swedish tennis superstar / underwear designer Bjorn Borg, I mentioned the groove. I think it’s necessary to do so again with her new track george, because the groove here is essentially the musical equivalent of a cool but surly teenager, head down, hands in pockets, sauntering along the street, but with a fluidity rather than awkwardness that you might normally equate with someone that age. It will probably rather appeal to those of us who have reached a certain age where we don't have quite as much energy as we used to. It's a head bobber rather than a hip twister.
Yet Parks certainly isn't of the age I am; she's just a teenager. like many 18 year olds in England and Wales she's just finished off her A-Levels – including English Literature. That education is paying off, because she’s using it in her songs, even if they clearly haven’t taught her that names have a capital letter at the start of them. Because george is a reference to the flamboyant poet and politician Lord Byron, with Parks taking the idea that Byron was a pretty terrible heartbreaker and narcissist and constructing the lyrics around the idea of someone like that: ‘Leaving a bit of blood in every room.’
george is smooth and perfect as a rolled bowling green. Which is a terrible simile. I'd probably get an E in my A Level.
If like me you're off to Glastonbury you can catch her 4 times over the weekend. A couple of slots are on the official timetable but she's also cropping up at places like the Crow's Nest. Check her Facebook for all the details.
Arlo Parks - george
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